One only more day until the long weekend, can you hold out? I’ll be honest, I’m having trouble getting motivated this morning. But, I’ve got things to do, a phone interview to tackle and this delicious recipe to share!

Yep, that’s a mini pie you see right there! One filled with strawberries, rhubarb and a tad bit of lemon zest. Y’all, if I could eat everything mini for the rest of my life, I’d be set. I mean, hello instant portion control. Plus, it’s just so gosh darn CUTE. How perfect would these be at your Memorial Day BBQ?

I’ll be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever made ANYTHING with rhubarb. In fact, I bought some stems? sticks? of it at Wegmans, an impulse purchase, then immediately went to The Twitter to ask my foodie friends what they recommend I do with it. Because, guys, it’s weird looking and frightens me a bit. But it’s so good for you and only has 24 calories in 1 CUP. 1 CUP!

Eep. So most of you chimed in and said “STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE!” And, being a big pie fan, I thought why not. When in Rome. I’ll make a pie with this weird, strange root and it’ll be good. I’ll just chop off the weird green top and then chop the red part into pieces. All the while I’m thinking “this will not end well, it’s a plant. A straight up hard, crunchy plant.”

But luckily it’s not just rhubarb pie, it’s also sharing a space with the strawberry, which is delicious. So, clearly, it will have to taste good.

So, I mixed these fruits together and stuffed them into the mini crusts I made. As soon as they popped out of the oven, all golden brown and crispy, I knew I just had to try one. So I took out a fork and dug into the piping hot pie.

I think I may be in love with rhubarb. Sure it looks strange but man does it taste good, especially when paired with strawberries. So sweet, so comforting. It reminds me of a warm Southern summer night, sitting on a veranda porch. Served with a dollop of whipped cream and this little pie is a little piece of heaven.

And if nothing else, guys, just make it because it’s so STINKIN’ CUTE. Or because one of these pies only has 160 calories and a measly 4 points, that could serve as a bit of incentive too, don’t you think?

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix strawberries, rhubarb, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl. Set aside.

To make the crust: Mix flour, salt, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a medium size mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Drizzle with ice water and lemon juice until mixture is just moistened. [It’ll still be very crumbly]. Knead the dough a little in the bowl then divide in half, covering one half with plastic wrap.

Place the other half on a floured surface. Roll dough out to about a 1/8 inch thickness. Then, using a circular cookie cutter (about 2 inches wide) cut out dough circles. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon about 1 teaspoon or so of filling on top of each little pie crust.

Repeat the rolling process with the second batch of dough. Cut out enough circles to top the dough on the parchment paper.

Moisten the outside of the dough on the baking sheet. Place the matching dough circles on top, squishing the ends together with your fingers. Then, using a fork, make indentations around the edges to keep the filling from oozing out.

Once the pies have been made, poke holes into the top of the dough to allow it to breathe. Then, brush the tops with egg white and freeze for about 10 minutes.

After pies have frozen, bake for 22 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool and then garnish with whipped cream.

Rhubarb is one of my favorite spring things. Now that you have faith in it, you definitely need to try just straight-up rhubarb pie. I know people are all about the strawberry rhubarb combo, and while it is delicious, a really good plain rhubarb pie is out of this world amazing. I actually found the perfect recipe for it and posted about it not too long ago. SO GOOD.

Oh my goodness, welcome to the wonderful world of rhubarb!! This looks delicious, and I love it for portion control - would be a perfect thing to store in the freezer for a quick weeknight dessert! ...Or for breakfast!

So...as delicious as the little pies look (I WILL be making them)...something else in your pictures caught my eye...

...where did you get your fork?

My parents had the same forks at their wedding (in the late 70's), and the set slowly decreased over the years. Now, only one remains. I've looked for more and found a few that were somewhat similar, but were always too wide or too thick.

I just made these and they're really good. Next time, however, I'll be reducing the amount of lemon that goes into them. Lemon is one of my favorite flavors, but here it kind of overwhelms the other flavors.